Gender Disparity in 2013-2018 Industry Payments to Plastic Surgeons

Area of Science:

• Medical Economics
• Surgical Compensation Studies
• Gender Disparities in Healthcare

Background:

• The gender pay gap in medicine is a growing concern, with female plastic surgeons earning significantly less than their male counterparts.
• Traditional wage gap analyses often overlook "hidden" compensation disparities, such as industry-based financial transfers.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the sex-based distribution of industry payments received by board-certified plastic surgeons.
• To analyze payment data from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Open Payment Database (OPD) from 2013 to 2018.

Main Methods:

• Utilized the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) member directory to identify surgeon gender via National Provider Identifier (NPI).
• Aggregated "General Payments" data from the CMS Open Payment Database (OPD) for all available years (2013-2018).
• Joined payment data with provider details and performed quantitative analysis to compare industry payments between male and female surgeons.

Main Results:

• Out of 4840 ASPS surgeons, 3864 (79.8%) received industry payments; 83.3% were male (3220) and 16.7% were female (644).
• Female surgeons received an average of $11,530.67 in payments, while male surgeons received an average of $25,469.05.
• The ratio of male-to-female payment dollars was consistently over 2:1, indicating substantial financial inequity.

Conclusions:

• Male plastic surgeons receive more frequent and higher-value industry payments than their female colleagues, indicating a significant compensation gap.
• A slight decline in payment inequity in recent years may suggest evolving industry engagement preferences regarding gender.
• Further research is needed to understand the drivers of this disparity and its impact on the plastic surgery profession.